The end of the world or the beginning of a new world
by kacy.l.woodruff
Summary: This is the story of the end of one man's world and the beginning of another more brutal world. This is a backstory for one of The Walking Dead characters everyone loves to hate, Negan. There are some curse words within which is why it is rated T, no nudity. Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to or characters from The Walking Dead. Author's note: I am no longer updating this story
1. Chapter 1

The man known as Jimmy lived a simple life as a car mechanic in Ohio. He had an ex-wife who is a nurse and a daughter who he spent every moment with, that is until the dead started walking.

It began as most Tuesdays do, Jimmy was hard at work on a vehicle when he heard his coworker Tom say "The news says to stay inside, I guess there's some virus that's making people crazy. Jimmy scoffed at the report from his coworker and said "Right like any of us have the luxury to stay behind closed doors, we have livings to make and cars to repair."

Suddenly the office door banged open with the garage owner Mr. Negan, turning blue and clutching his throat. "Damn Jimmy, he's choking" his coworker Tom said. Neither Jimmy nor Tom knew the Heimlich maneuver, so Jimmy pounded on Mr. Negan's back to try to dislodge the food while Tom called for help.

As Jimmy continued to beat Mr. Negan's back Tom ran back towards them. "No one is answering when I called 911! what the hell is going on?" Mr. Negan suddenly collapsed in front of Tom and Jimmy. "Oh man, is he dead? "Tom asked. "I'm not sure" Jimmy said as he took a step backwards. Tom knelt by Mr. Negan to check if he was breathing, as Tom was shaking his head at Jimmy, Mr. Negan suddenly shot up and grabbed Tom biting him on his neck. Tom began thrashing around trying to dislodge Mr. Negan. "Help me Jimmy" Tom yelled. Jimmy rushed over and tried to pry the two apart. Finally after what felt like hours Jimmy was able to separate Mr. Negan and Tom

As Mr. Negan lurched to his feet his eyes fell on Jimmy, eyes that no longer looked human. With blood dripping down his chin Mr. Negan took slow lurching steps towards Jimmy, as Mr. Negan came closer Jimmy said "Mr. Negan don't do this, you're sick this isn't you." The usually friendly and jovial Mr. Negan did not respond. Jimmy backed up until he ran into a toolbox. Still Mr. Negan kept coming towards Jimmy. "C'mon Mr. Negan, I don't want to hurt you" Jimmy pleaded. As Mr. Negan grew even closer Jimmy put his hands out to try to keep him back. After a few seconds of trying to fight Mr. Negan off Jimmy came to the understanding that Mr. Negan was going to kill him if he did not kill Mr. Negan first. Jimmy reached behind himself on the top of the toolbox searching for something to use as a weapon. As he was blindly groping around his hand fell on a socket wrench, with a great heave he brought the socket wrench down onto the top of Mr. Negan's head. With a loud crunch the skull gave way, and with the force of the blow Mr. Negan crumpled onto the ground and didn't get up again. Jimmy realized he had been holding his breath and he let it out in one long breath. Pushing himself to his feet Jimmy went to where Tom was sitting.

"The crazy bastard bit me!"Tom yelled. "I know let me take a look to see how bad it is" Jimmy answered. Tom moved his hand away from his neck and craned his head to the left, as he moved blood spurted out of Tom's neck in long red sprays. "Shit Tom, this is bad" Jimmy said as he examined the injury. "How bad?" Jimmy nervously asked. "Well it's certainly worse than a hickey" Jimmy sarcastically answered. Jimmy ran to the woefully under stocked first aid kit to find something to stop the flow of blood until he could get Tom to a hospital. When Jimmy returned to where Tom was slumped against the wall Jimmy realized that Tom was dead. Looking down Jimmy saw he was still clutching the socket wrench in his hand, the head of which was coated in Mr. Negan's hair, blood and bone fragments. Before Jimmy had a chance to drop the socket wrench or toss it away from himself in disgust, Tom lurched to his feet. "Oh man, I thought you were dead" Jimmy said relieved. Rather than answering Jimmy, Tom looked up with the same look in his eyes that Mr. Negan had, and took a lurching step towards Jimmy. Before he was attacked by someone else Jimmy swung the socket wrench with all his might into the side of Tom's head, crushing his skull as well.

As Jimmy slowly came to terms with what had just happened, the realization struck him that he had just killed two people. With his mind in a panic he ran to the office, grabbed the phone and dialed his ex-wife's number from memory. He just wanted to hear his little girl's voice one more time. The phone kept ringing with no answer, so the next call he made was to the police. A woman answered who sounded either very hurried or very afraid "Ohio State Police, What is the nature of your emergency?" Jimmy answered, "I just killed two people that were attacking me." The voice on the other end of phone said "we have more important matters right now, stay where you are and an officer will be by as soon as we have one free. Then the line went dead. Unsure of what to do Jimmy locked all of the doors in the garage, and went into the front office waiting area.


	2. Chapter 2: The Promise

Jimmy used his cell phone to call his ex-wife again, this time she answered but only in a whisper. "Jimmy, don't talk, just listen. People started coming into the ER with all these bite marks, so because it was so busy I was called in to help. At first we didn't know what was going on, or how to stop all the people that were coming in, that's when the people started dying, but they didn't stay dead, but they weren't really alive. These people would come back from death and attack doctors and nurses and biting them. Right now I'm hiding in a maintenance room with the door locked. Talia is at my parent's house since I was called in to help, promise me you will find her and keep her safe." Jimmy felt a sob in his throat and had to clear it before he could answer his pleading wife "of course I'll find her and protect her with my life, I'll find you too Lucille." Lucille made a strange chuckle sound in her throat as she answered "it's too late for me I was already bitten, just keep our daughter safe, promise me that please!" As Jimmy answered tears slid down his face "I promise you, I will find Talia and protect her, I love you Lucille." Lucille answered "I love you too Jimmy" then the call dropped.

Jimmy sat staring at his phone for a long time wondering what to do or how to do it. What he did know is if there were more of these undead people walking around he would need a better weapon than a socket wrench. He wandered around the office searching for something that he could use, he tried unbending a coat hanger first, but that was too flimsy. Then he tried the coat rack that had always sat by the door, it would be a decent distance weapon, but too heavy to carry all over with him. Then behind the register he spotted a wooden baseball bat "Ahhhhh Louisville, you make such a wonderfully sweet wooden bat. Hhhmmm…it has a nice swing on its porch too, yes this will do nicely. But I think it needs just a small addition." He looked into the storeroom and found a roll of barbed wire. "Oooooh yes that'll work!" Using gloves he wrapped the barbed wire around the bat, lightly tapping the barbs into the wood to hold it in place and welding the ends together. He gives the bat a couple of test swings "OH yeah! That's outstanding it feels like an extension of my body, I'm not sure which part yet but it feels sooooo good!"

"Making weaponry makes me hungry, let's see what's in the breakroom" he said out loud. Then he thought to himself 'damn, I need to find someone to talk to' looking down at the bat in his hand he said to it "We'll have to find a name for you, and with that barbed wire you look damn sexy. That barbed wire makes you look like you have claws or fangs. HA! You're a vampire bat" Jimmy shook his head as he walked into the breakroom.

Jimmy opened the fridge and found lunchmeat and cheese, so he used those supplies to make himself a sandwich. Once his hunger was satisfied he decided that it would be better to leave in the morning to go to Virginia where his ex-wife had moved. So he laid down on the couch and used his black leather jacket as a blanket.

A few hours later Jimmy awoke with the sound of his ex-wife's voice ringing in his ears, the words promise me echoing in his brain. Groaning he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He spoke into the empty room "well apparently the police never showed up. I guess I'll make myself a nice hot cup of wake the hell up." Jimmy made a pot of coffee and leisurely sipped at the piping hot liquid, delighting in the aroma and taste. After finishing his cup of coffee he turned the coffee maker off and walked back into the office waiting room.

"Time to keep my promise" he said as he grabbed the bat from against the wall. Going back into the garage where all this had started for him he grabbed his keys from the hook on the side of his toolbox, looked over at the prone bodies of Mr. Negan and Tom double checking to make sure that they were still in fact dead. He stepped over the bodies and went back into the breakroom where he filled a sack with some dry food. He walked back through the office waiting room and approached one of the front windows. As he looked out the front windows he saw people of all sorts moving around, but they weren't moving like a regular person, they all had that same lurching movement that Mr. Negan and Tom had after they stood up from being dead. He wasn't sure if these people were sick like Mr. Negan and Tom, but he still had to go out into the world to get to his daughter. "Well, let's see how well you work" he said to the bat in his hand. As he walked out the front door he rested the bat on his shoulder in case he had to start swinging like he was in a homerun derby.


End file.
